MCG Test: I made the most of Ranji Trophy experience by reversing the ball, says Jasprit Bumrah

India pacer Jasprit Bumrah on Friday insisted that the experience of bowling on slower wickets with low bounce in the Ranji Trophy and the ability to exploit reverse swing in those conditions came in handy for him as his team knocked off Australia for a meagre 151 in the first innings of the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Bumrah ended with career-best figures of 6/33, tormenting the Australian batsmen with pace and accuracy. The 25-year-old said he was pitching the ball ahead only because it was reversing.

“When we were bowling, the pitch was playing slow,” he said in the post-day press conference. “The bounce was up and down but mostly it was down. The ball had started reversing.

“When we play in similar conditions back home, it reverses and you try to make the most of it. So we were trying to use our experience in first-class cricket where we have bowled with ball reversing. That was the plan.”

Speaking about his own development as a bowler since he made his Test debut in South Africa earlier this year, Bumrah said he was always confident of doing well in the longest format of the game.

“I always wanted to play Test cricket,” he said. “People had only seen me in white-ball cricket but I played a lot of first-class cricket earlier.

“So I was always confident that whenever I get a chance [to play Test cricket], I will be able to do well. I got the opportunity in South Africa and I was very happy.

“The start has been good. Hopefully you keep on learning and keep improving and getting better.”

Bumrah denied that he had introduced a new delivery to his armoury, saying working on his consistency has always been his main goal.

The other intriguing factor of Bumrah’s game has been his unorthordox action. The 25-year-old said he was grateful that none of the coaches he worked with at National Cricket Academy or in domestic cricket tried to change his action, and only asked him work on his overall strength.

“I don’t think too much about people who discuss my action,” he said. “Let them say what they want. When I was small, I used to watch a lot of people bowl on TV and I don’t really know how I developed this action.

“But whenever I went to NCA or for camps, no one tried to change my action. I was only told to work on my strength because they were worried that I could lose my pace if I don’t work on it. That way, I have been lucky.”

After making an impressive Test debut in South Africa, Bumrah missed the first two Tests in England but that did not affect his momentum.

“In England, I had thumb injury so I was still bowling because it was my left thumb,” the right-arm pacer said. “I was still bowling in the nets and because I was sitting out, I was keeping an eye on what is happening.

“Over here [in Australia], it is a little different because the ball does a little less, there is less lateral movement. So over here, you want to be consistent,” he added.

It was Rohit Sharma’s idea

Bumrah surprised one and all with a slower ball that flummoxed Shaun Marsh just before lunch and the pace bowler revealed that it was Rohit Sharma’s idea.

“When I was bowling there, the wicket had become really slow,” he said. “The ball had become soft and nothing really was happening.

“So on the last ball before lunch, Rohit was there at mid-off and he told me, ‘You can try a slower ball, like you bowl in one-day cricket.’ So I thought I could give it a go.

“Some of the [Australian] guys play with hard hands, so I wanted to try that. I was trying to bowl a fuller slower ball, which may dip or go towards short cover. That was the plan and it worked,” he added.

To a query about why bowlers don’t bowl the yorker that often in Test cricket, Bumrah said it was slightly risky to execute that delivery with tired limbs as against in limited-overs cricket.

“It’s a little different in Test cricket,” he said. “In white-ball cricket there are only 10 overs. Sometimes, a yorker takes a lot out of your body.

“After bowling 25 overs, it is difficult sometimes to execute the yorker. So yes, it is an under rated delivery in Test cricket but I believe you can’t overdo it because it is easier for the batsman to score if you get it wrong.

“But yes, when the ball is reversing it is even more effective.”

Explaining the logic behind India’s decision to bat again instead of enforcing a follow-on, the fast bowler said the idea was to put up as many runs as possible before the bowlers have another go at the Australian batsmen.

“There was no plan,” he said. “We wanted to play positive cricket. Yes, we lost a few more wickets than what we wanted to, but we will try to add as many runs as we want to and hopefully we will come back in the next innings and get them out as well,” he added.